You know the image — Fremont Street’s glowing neon cowboy, sporting confidence with a cigarette dangling off the lips, red bandana around the neck, and an extended thumb pointing at himself. He’s been around for nearly 75 years and is synonymous with Las Vegas. But who is Vegas Vic really — and where did he come from?
🎰 A Sign of the Times
The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce commissioned the character of Vegas Vic in 1945 to promote tourism. The cowboy was featured in postcards and trinkets before coming to life as a 48-foot-tall sign outside the Pioneer Club in 1951. The cost was $28,000 — not cheap. But Vegas exploded with neon signage since businesses could rent back their own custom creations from manufacturers like the Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO).
🤠 Style Evolution
Over the years, Vegas Vic’s shirt changed from checkered white and red to solid yellow and then the checkered yellow and red we see today. He had a motorized arm that stopped working in 1991 and spoke the words “Howdy, podner” every 15 minutes. According to local legend, actor Lee Marvin complained about the noise while staying at the Mint Hotel in 1966 and casino executives shut off the sound effect, which didn’t return until the ‘80s. It no longer works today. When part of Fremont Street became a pedestrian mall “experience,” Vic’s hat was trimmed to fit underneath the canopy.
Fremont Street in 1981. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
💰 Who Owns Vic Now?
The Pioneer Club closed around the time the Fremont Street Experience opened in 1995. It’s now a souvenir shop by Schiff Enterprises, which owns the physical Vegas Vic sign and turned down a maintenance partnership with the Neon Museum. After going dim due to neglect, the marquee went dark and was restored in 2023.
The rights to the Vegas Vic likeness remained with the former Pioneer Club owners, who opened the Pioneer Hotel (now the New Pioneer) in Laughlin in 1981 with a Vegas Vic twin named River Rick overlooking the Colorado River.
Archon Corporation bought the Laughlin property in 2004 and sold it in 2018, but retained ownership of Vegas Vic's trademark and likeness, allowing the hotel to continue its association with River Rick on a limited basis.
‼️ More Imitators …
A smaller version of Vegas Vic hangs above Vic’s, an Italian restaurant and jazz lounge owned by Archon near the Smith Center. Up in Northern Nevada, a similar cowboy marquee named Wendover Will was created just a year after Vegas Vic in 1952. He stood outside the Stateline Casino before moving to the town center of West Wendover.
🥰 Illuminated Love Life
A neon cowgirl named Vegas Vickie was erected across from Vic above the Girls of Glitter Gulch in 1980, although she was sometimes referred to as Sassy Sally, due to a nearby casino of the same name. Vickie was designed as a companion piece to Vegas Vic and the couple was even “married” during a 1994 ceremony. The cowgirl was given a fresh restoration and moved inside the Circa resort in 2020. She’s now on display near Vegas Vickie’s cocktail lounge.
- Learn more secrets about Fremont Street and Downtown Las Vegas. [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]
